(Stupid) bike messenger tricks: EZ-clairvoyance

Posted at 01:52PM on Mar 10, 2008 by web

One of the handiest things I learned during my stint as a bike messenger was that you can often do a pretty good job of estimating the location of an unknown address by memorizing the street numbers of some main Montreal arteries and the rules of the street numbering system. I've lost my edge now, but at the time you could toss out something like "1603 St-Denis" and I'd be able to say "Oh, that's between Ontario and De Maisonneuve on the east side of the street." Some messengers are scary-good at this— it's a key skill when your job is largely one long orienteering session. Here's how it works:

Addresses on the north sides of east-west streets are always odd, as are addresses on the east sides of north-south streets. Still with me? I remembered this as "North is naughty, east is eerie." Next, remember that the addresses for east-west streets count from St-Laurent. So 400 Rachel E. is four blocks east of St-Laurent, and 4817 Sherbrooke W. is way the heck out in Westmount. The north-south streets count from the Lachine Canal*. So far so good? Now throw in some major 'landmark' streets and you're good to go. Here's a short list of the ones I still remember:

North-South Streets

Notre-Dame: 500
Rene-Levesque: 1200
Sainte-Catherine: 1400
Sherbrooke: 3400
Mont-Royal: 4500
Saint-Joseph: 5000

East-West Streets

Atwater: 2400 W.
Peel: 1100 W.
Saint-Laurent: 0 (!)
Berri: 500 E.
Papineau 1700 E.

Add in some streets relevant to your life and you're ready to win friends and influence people, or at least render exceptionally good service to lost tourists. Or you can forget the whole 'major streets' business and just remember the "North is naughty" bit. It'll save you at least a few minutes per year.

*This system has its weird exceptions. Plenty of them, in fact. For example, streets south of the Lachine canal count up from the Saint Lawrence river, and there's a giant jump in street numbers after Atwater (2400 W) in the west. Greene, just three blocks further along, is at 4200 W. Want to know all the sordid details? Get started here.